Blue Origin Goddard

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<!-- Image with unknown copyright status removed: -->Blue Origin Goddard is the name of the first development vehicle in the Blue Origin New Shepard program, which flew for the first time on November 13, 2006. Named after rocketry pioneer Robert Goddard, the vehicle is a subscale demonstrator and flew at a 285&nbsp;ft altitude during its initial flight. The private spacecraft venture is being funded by the billionaire founder of Amazon.com, Jeff Bezos. He hopes that the private spacecraft could eventually bring space travel within the reach of the masses. A video of the cone-shaped Goddard vehicle shows it climbing to about 85&nbsp;m (285&nbsp;ft) before returning to Earth, in a remote part of Texas.

The flight marks the first time Jeff Bezos has broken his silence on the work of his space company, Blue Origin. On the company's website, Mr Bezos said: "We're working, patiently and step-by-step, to lower the cost of spaceflight so that many people can afford to go; and so that we humans can better continue exploring the Solar System." "Accomplishing this mission will take a long time, and we're working on it methodically." Mr Bezos founded Blue Origin in 2000 with the intention of developing a vertical take-off and landing vehicle, able to take passengers to the edge of space. No timescale for commercial trips has been announced but documents released by the US Federal Aviation Administration suggest they could start as early as 2010.